How to customize the Setup wizard with custom forms in Visual Studio setup project

Question

I have to create a setup project with custom serial key validation. I have to proceed the installation only after the serial key is authenticated or else we have to skip the installation.

I have tried the sample setup project, and have called the custom form for authenticating serial key in the installer class, merged the installer class from the custom action in the setup project.

But the Serial key validation form comes after the progress form executes.

I need to show it after the welcome page.

I have attached the screenshot of the setup wizard.

How to bring the Setp 5 form (custom form) before Step 2?

Answer 1

This can't be done in Visual Studio setups - the only validation supplied is the serial number template, a masked edit control to verify the basics. This is because Visual Studio setups custom actions all run after the files are installed, and you cannot associate one with a button click to validate the serial number, or in fact anything in the UI.

You might need to use another tool for your setup. VS setups are pretty simple but they don't have many features. Otherwise you could use another tool to build a merge module that you could add. Manually editing the MSI file is a possibility but you'd need to know a lot about the internals of MSI files.